Chapter 3

All his friends in the engineering spaces and those in the chiefs’ mess were in positive support of chief Ron Singleton, despite his apprehensions concerning his long-awaited nuptials. The last he’d heard from his betrothed, Yuki, everything was in place for them to be joined in a traditional, non-sectarian wedding ceremony. She had more friends than family, and they would all be there to support Yuki, so it fell to the crew to support Ron. The ship would pull in on a Tuesday and leave the following Monday. The wedding was planned for Friday. Eddie would have normally had duty that day, but surprisingly, Carl Thompson had volunteered to take a ‘standby’ for Eddie, so he could attend. Eddie promised to repay him at some unspecified future date. Eddie was also, understandably, apprehensive about seeing Lorna Phillips. He wondered what she looked like, at this stage of her pregnancy. She had been a physically fit woman when he’d knocked her up in Korea, and he couldn’t imagine her letting herself go, being a doctor and all. Eddie didn’t normally go topside when entering a port, preferring to check the sights out after the brow was over and the sea detail had been dismissed, but he was anxious to see if Lorna had arrived as he’d suggested.

As the lines were tossed to the line handlers on the pier and the tugs pushed the ship against the pier fenders, Eddie perused the small crowd of greeters on the pier. He picked out Yuki and her entourage right away, with their banners and pennants. Being a civilian, she would have to wait for Ron to go on the pier to greet her. For some reason, Eddie half expected Lorna to be in uniform, but he spotted her, standing a short distance from the others. She stood tall, with her shoulder-length dark hair moving in the slight breeze. Dressed in a modest, calf-length maternity dress and a light coat, she seemed to glow with impending motherhood. It gave Eddie an ache in his heart, to see her like that. If only they were both single, he idly dreamed. When she spotted him, she waved, and he returned it. With her military ID, she could come aboard as soon as customs cleared. He had a moment’s panic, wondering how he would introduce her to anyone, then told himself: ‘fuck it!’. He didn’t care. He and Lorna continued to gaze at each other across the gulf, which was both physical and metaphorical. By the time the brow was across, and the quarterdeck set up, he met her as she ascended the gangway to present her ID. When Eddie got there, he asked the OOD for a visitors’ badge and received it. Knowing he could only take her to public areas, he escorted her to the chiefs’ mess, where she was warmly welcomed. While the other chiefs were trying to impress her with their cordiality, he went to change into civilian clothes, so they could leave the ship and go wherever she may desire. Upon his return to the mess, he saw Al was near her and talking to her. Since he was the only one who knew the whole story, Eddie was glad he was there. He noticed Carl Thompson, sitting by himself, but with a speculative look on his face.

“Fuck him!” Eddie said to himself.

Lorna had been a hit in the mess, probably the most beautiful woman to grace the place in some time. Eddie offered his hand to help her stand, then thanking everyone for their friendliness, he escorted her back to the quarterdeck and down the brow, assisting her as though she were a fragile person. On the pier, he asked her where she wanted to go and what she had in mind. She told him she would like to try an authentic Japanese meal, to contrast her experience with Korean food. Knowing only a few places in town, he hailed a cab and told the cabbie to take them to a fashionable, but not too expensive restaurant which served traditional meals. The cabbie was thrilled for the opportunity to do so. The meal was very good, with Eddie ordering Sukiyaki, as he’d enjoyed it so much at Yuki’s. While they dined, Lorna brought him up to date on her pregnancy and her relationship with her distant husband. Everyone she worked with believed the lie of her being impregnated while she was home on furlough. She had yet to reveal her gravid condition to her husband, but she wasn’t worried because she had names and places of his illegitimate children in case, he wanted to throw stones. As they were finishing, Eddie broached the subject:

“So, ‘little mother to be’, what is it that’s brought you all the way here? We could have talked on the phone unless you really wanted to visit Japan.”

“Well, ‘big father to be, again’, I thought I might want to revisit how I got this way, as my memory may have dimmed. Do you think you can find the time to help me refresh my recall?” she said seductively.

A bit surprised, but more than willing, Eddie winked at her:

“Of course, my dear, anything to help a poor dementia patient.”

They laughed and she told him she had a nice suite near the base. Settling the bill, they took a cab to the hotel.

Inside the suite, Lorna immediately began undressing and Eddie was looking forward to seeing her gravid belly, remembering her well-toned abs from just a few months ago. Intent on watching her disrobe, he lagged behind in his own undressing. She noticed:

“Come one, sailor boy! Chop, chop. I’m not waiting all night for some of your personal attention “ she growled.

“Yes, ma’am. Right away, ma’am” he snickered.

One would think, that having been through three pregnancies with Carol, he’d have experience in making love to an expectant mother. Consider, however, that Carol allowed him access to her while she was fertile, but once she was impregnated, she severely reduced the amount of sexual congress allowed. So, though Eddie was cognizant of her condition, Lorna was not complaining in any way, as he practiced his own form of tender, gratifying love making. She knew he’d have to return to the ship early the next morning, but he promised to get off the ship as soon as he could, to return to her bed. She was going to be greedy with his time in the few days she’d have him. Since she was flying out on Sunday, Eddie asked if she’d like to attend Ron and Yuki’s wedding with him. She was ecstatic for the opportunity.

Another important matter Eddie had to deal with was a call to his son, Steven. He had already been told by SM1 Brady that he’d contacted his wife and told her to cease and desist her nefarious activities, claiming it could severely impact his career. She promised to do so, though Flags took that with a grain of salt. With Eddie sixteen hours ahead of time in San Diego, he placed his call at 12pm, local time, on Wednesday. Breeanne answered the phone at 8pm Tuesday:

“Hello? Daddy? Oh, daddy, I miss you so much! I love you daddy! Yes, he’s here. No, mom isn’t. She’s where she is most nights: at Mrs. Brady’s. Here’s Steven.” she relented.

“Hello, dad. I had hoped you’d call before now, but I understand you’ve been at sea. I just didn’t know what to do. Breeanne just told me to let mom have enough rope to hang herself, but I had to do ‘something’. What I did was put tiny spy cameras in her family room, where most of the action usually occurs, and in her bedroom, too. I do what she tells me to do, and she thinks I do it because of the video of me and mom, but I do it so I can swap SD memory cards in both cameras. Man, do I have some juicy stuff on all the women ‘and’ men, who come and go from Veronica’s house. Yeah, I’m in them too, and so is mom! I had to buy more SD cards. I’ve got about a hundred hours of downloaded stuff. I edited all the cards to take out all the boring daily stuff and kept just the porn. Mom is getting more involved. She’s now going down on some of the women, and I have at least one clip of her blowing some guy I’ve never seen before. She always wears a mask, but I know it’s her. She lets Veronica do her with a strap-on dildo, but so far, she hasn’t let a guy fuck her, even me, with my hood. I can’t believe she’s, my mom. It’s as though she’s on drugs, but I see no evidence of there being any around. I think Veronica has something she’s holding over mom’s head, but mom seems to get into it when she’s chowing down on someone’s twat. I don’t know, dad, but I don’t feel like I’m only almost eighteen. I feel like I’m in my mid-thirties; I’ve seen and done so much. I can’t wait for you and Veronica’s husband to come home and blow the lid off this bullshit! Don’t worry, dad, I’ll keep all the evidence, so you can see it. Yeah, Marley’s doing alright. I guess Charlie’s giving her all the dick she wants, because she doesn’t ask me very often. Breeanne still tells me I don’t hold a candle to you, but she doesn’t trust any other guys, so I’m the only game in town. Okay, dad, a little more than two weeks? That’s great. See you when you get here. Bye, dad, I love you.”

Eddie hung up, his side of the conversation being superfluous, only Steven’s report mattered. Shaking his head, he considered going to Flags again, but to what purpose. Veronica seemed to be her own person. He debated whether or not to call home again from Hawaii.